THE other day at a business gathering someone asked me, “Raju, what, according to you, has changed in sales and selling over the decades?” Slightly offended by the inclusion of the word decades in the question I quickly brushed it aside by saying “nothing has changed” and moved on. Late at night, I lay wondering and thinking about my experiments and experiences in selling.

On Aug. 13, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr. admitted that China’s radio warnings to Philippine aircraft and ships in the South China Sea (SCS) are “a daily occurrence.”

Sustainable and responsible tourism is the cornerstone of Tourism Secretary, Bernadette “Berna” Romulo-Puyat’s, agenda as she spearheads the country’s tourism offensive. This is what she told a group of us in a recent press forum last month.

“What’s the play?” In Filipino-speak, “Ano ang laro?” It means there’s a lot of double-speak, so to try to understand, one will have to analyze actions versus words and ask the question heavily laden with negative connotations -- what’s the hidden game plan?

My two previous pieces (BW, July 16 and July 23, 2018) discussed four flaws in the DoE’s current power development plan that led it to overestimate the country’s 2040 baseload requirements by more than 100%.

I HAVE always thought that the barangay system, if properly harnessed, can provide great benefits to the country in molding the desired cultural and social character of the Filipino.

WERE they fools duped into boarding the “federalist ship,” and drafting and defending a constitution that would supposedly bring into fruition President Rodrigo Duterte’s oft-repeated claim that a shift to a federal form of government would accelerate the development of the country’s poorest regions? At least one member of the Duterte-appointed Consultative Committee (Con-Com), who helped write the draft that’s now in Congress, is beginning to think so.

ACCIDENTS, or simply the unexpected, are not necessarily bad. Think penicillin. Or x-rays. Things created or existing because of mistakes or happenstance. Sometimes, one can get a pretty nifty song out of it too.

THE word “rich” has various definitions. It depends on the context — material or spiritual.

FROM 1791 to 1992, or a period of 201 years, the US Constitution was amended only 27 times. That’s an average of one amendment for every eight years in the nation’s life. To date, the United States has been an independent democratic state for over 240 years. And yet, over these 24 decades, it has changed or revised its Constitution only 27 times.

TURKEY’S economic and political conniptions have driven a significant sell-off in European bank stocks. This meltdown may illuminate a deeper question about regulation: whether more capital makes banks or the financial system resistant to periodic crises.

THE recent monsoon rains that we have experienced easily resulted in severe flooding across Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces. Classes were suspended, business operations were interrupted, and the traffic situation was aggravated. While this may be “normal” for us during rainy season, the recent flooding was different as it did not require heavy rains to flood the streets.